Aryna Sabalenka has urged crowds to stop booing Russian and Belarusian players, but Wimbledon has refused to follow other authorities in telling spectators to stay quiet.
Sabalenka is on a collision course with Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the Wimbledon final on Saturday if both players win their respective semi-finals.
She said she hoped reception from the crowd at Wimbledon will improve after the Women’s Tennis Association addressed the Ukraine handshake “misunderstanding” which saw fellow Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka, heckled on Sunday.
The WTA responded to calls, led by Svitolina, to make clear why Ukrainian players would not shake hands with Russian or Belarusian rivals given Vladimir Putin’s war.
The WTA announced: “Due to the ongoing reprehensible war, the WTA respects the position of the Ukrainian athletes in foregoing the tradition of shaking opponents’ hands [from Russia and Belarus] at the end of a match, as this is a personal decision.”
That statement has been warmly welcomed by Azarenka’s Belarusian compatriot Sabalenka, who will face sixth seed Ons Jabeur in the last four after a commanding 6-2 6-4 victory over Madison Keys on Wednesday, a match in which she acknowledged the American had the crowd on her side.
“They made this statement which is really good,” Sabalenka said. “I think people also need to know what’s going on and why there is no handshake between Ukrainians, Russian, and Belarusian players. I mean, it’s good to have this statement. I really hope that nobody else will face this reaction from the crowd.”
Sabalenka had previously been confronted by a Ukrainian journalist about her perceived support of Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko. A photo shared by various news channels last month shows her apparently hugging the key Kremlin ally.
In an interview with Telegraph Sport, retired Ukrainian player Sergiy Stakhovsky, who quit the game last year and joined the Ukraine army, suggests Belarussians could be doing more to speak out against Vladimir Putin’s war. “There is a lot of negativity toward players from Belarus,” Stakhovsky said. “You can see their position, they have social media platforms which they don’t use to stop this war.”
As for the suggestion that it isn’t safe for Russian and Belarusian players to criticise their governments, Stakhovsky replied: “It’s been 16 months, they could get all their family out, they could reside in any country in the world, not safe is being in any city in Ukraine, yesterday there were more missile attacks, you don’t know when it’s going to happen and who’s going to be killed.”
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev did his utmost to get the crowd behind him against the popular American Christopher Eubanks on Court One. At 3-1 down in the second set, the Russian played an outstanding winner past Eubanks and beckoned the crowd to cheer for him on his way to a victory in five sets.
Azarenka, meanwhile, had left Court One to deafening boos on Sunday night after acknowledging Svitolina with a raise of the racket, instead of meeting her at the net after the match.
Svitolina said tennis authorities needed to act to ensure crowds are aware of Ukraine players’ refusal to shake hands, but Sally Bolton, the Championships’ chief executive, has suggested there was no need to dictate how spectators should behave. “I think we have an incredibly knowledgeable audience at Wimbledon and I think in the most part they would understand what was going on,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to speculate on what everybody in the crowd was thinking.”
Sabalenka, who was banned from last year’s tournament along with Russian players, is making up for lost time and was too strong for Keys on Wednesday. With Iga Swiatek knocked out on Tuesday, she will now have her sights on the Venus Rosewater dish after booking a second semi-final appearance in SW19.
Sabalenka added: “It feels really amazing to be back in the semi-final, I can’t wait to play my second semi-final at Wimbledon and hopefully I can do better than last time.
“It was a really tough game, I was so happy to win the second set, that game at 2-4 0-40 was just incredible.
“Since I was little I was dreaming about the Wimbledon title, it is something special, Wimbledon is different, it’s more special. It doesn’t matter who I am going to play, it is going to be a tough battle.”
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July 13, 2023 at 01:54AM
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Aryna Sabalenka's message to Wimbledon crowd – stop booing Belarusian and Russian players - The Telegraph
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